Gone to Seed

Dec. 7, 2012 9:17 p.m. ET

Seeds may seem simple at first glance, but don't be deceived. Since first appearing in plants some 360 million years ago, they have evolved to be carried by wind, water and animal. They are hardy, too: Seeds can sometimes lie dormant for hundreds of years before germinating.

Now out in a new edition, "Seeds: Time Capsules of Life," by photographer Rob Kesseler and Wolfgang Stuppy of the Millennium Seed Bank at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Earth Aware Editions, $35), offers an extensive natural history. The...